Beer Trader

Yes, but isn't Armand making his own gueuze again after the cooler incident?

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to the best of my knowledge, the 4 seasons "armand" series was the last time he brewed any himself. supposedly he has somebody studying under him to eventually do both duties, but that's a few years off into the future.

in any case, plenty of other blending-only outfits, like de cam, hanssens and now tilquin. that said, obviously none of them have the power of diageo or pernod ricard over the scotch industry...

Beer Trader

If you look around the big wine areas of the country you'll see a lot of wine barrels put to use, albeit often in beers other than stouts. Where there are craft distillers of non-whisky products you'll find barrels of rum, tequila, etc. being put to use in beer.

It probably is if you don't like the taste of scotch. Unlike bourbon, scotch isn't sweet or strongly oaky; it tastes like whisky. If you don't like that flavor, sure, it's not going to be good in your beer.

Scotch is too expensive and the flavors are too subtle to be wasted going into beer. You might as well just use a blended canadian whisky.

One of the more common ways to make a boilermaker is a shot of bourbon and a glass of beer. So why not just age the beer in the ex-bourbon casks to impart the flavor? Someone asked this question and bourbon barrel aging was born. That's my theory.

I think that the vanilla and caramel flavors that come from bourbon and whiskey lend themselves well to stouts and other ales. But there are a lot of other beers, especially funky/sour type beers aged in wine barrels because the flavor profile matches and they work together well.... I can't even imagine how bad a beer aged in scotch barrels would taste - but I guess I could be surprised

Beer Trader

One of the more common ways to make a boilermaker is a shot of bourbon and a glass of beer. So why not just age the beer in the ex-bourbon casks to impart the flavor? Someone asked this question and bourbon barrel aging was born. That's my theory.

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i believe the main point of the boilermaker and other "bomb shot" cocktails is just to get drunk as quickly as possible, not to enhance the flavor...

Premium Member

could you name some of these "whiskey" BA beers you consider lackluster? as drtth and i have alluded to, there is a lot of variability as to how barrels are treated before filling with beer and also brewer preferences on how to label/market a beer that for all intents and purposes could still be called "bourbon barrel aged" but chose not to.

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I keep a list of beers that I've had in the past, but I don't keep notes of when I drank them or the particular details of the taste. However, I found 4 that I think I've had within that past 3 years, and they must not have impressed me with the effects of the barrel aging when compared to bourbon barrel-aged beers that I've had, of which there have been many.

Two of the 4 beers were aged in "whiskey" barrels -- O'Fallon's Whiskey Barrel Smoked Porter, and Rogue's John John Dead Guy Ale Aged in "Whiskey" barrels (I believe there were also rum and gin barrel versions of this one too).

The other two beers were aged in brandy barrels -- Dogfish Head's Poppaskul , and New Holland's Charkoota Rye Smoked Dopplebock.

I've always liked the taste of bourbon (although I also like brandy and other whiskeys), so there may be some bourbon prejudice to consider here, but from the four non-bourbon beers noted above I've learned not to pay a premium price for a barrel-aged beer that is aged in anything but bourbon barrels. I just don't get any extra satisfaction from them to justify the extra cost. Whether non-bourbon barrels are more well-used, thus don't impart as much flavor into the beer could be a basic reason, but I'm not going to purchase them to find out.

I recently had an imperial stout aged in pinot noir barrels and it got me thinking about barrel-aged beers. A lot of breweries age beer in whiskey barrels, and I've always been curious why these beers are so over-represented relative to those of other kinds of aged wine and liquor. What are some good beers out there that are aged in a non-whiskey barrel?

Also, are there specific reasons for this imbalance? I feel like aging a beer in wine, tequila, rum or (especially) cognac barrels would provide just as much if not more flavor than a whiskey barrel, and yet not many breweries uses these kinds of aging processes.

Beer Trader

Well, first, plenty of sour beers age in wine barrels (everything RR does, for instance, is used wine barrels), so that part of your question is just wrong.

As for things like tequila, rum, or cognac, I believe the problem is availability and price. Some places like to rum age, but mostly breweries that are near rum producers (Florida ones) or distill themselves (Ballast Pt). Similarly Tequila ones show up, but not that often. My guess with those two is that there just aren't that many barrels available, and that the flavors kind of suck for beer aging (though this will depend).

Cognac is just absurdly expensive, from what I understand, since you need to ship it overseas. But still, it happens.

Bourbon is just a special case since, by law, barrels are only used once. They need to go somewhere, and so breweries will take them. AFAIK that's not the case with any other kind of spirit. So you do see those other barrels, but they're not as common because there are far less on the market.

Beer Trader

Figgy Pudding (brandy), Rye-on-Rye (rye whiskey), Ola Dubh (scoth whisky), BA Cavatica (rye whiskey), and Temptation (chardonnay) are some of my favorites aged in non-bourbon barrels. Having said that, I've had a lot of barrel aged beers and find that bourbon usually melds better with beer than other spirits. I suspect that this is why they are so common.

Beer Trader

American whiskey has to be aged in new oak barrels. So they sell them to Scotland usually and also brewers more recently. Also American whiskey (read bourbon) is not a malt based product. At least 51% corn, I don't believe Rye is made from malted Rye. That being said I'm not too stoked on bourbon barrel aged stuff because of the corn flavor. To each his own though.

Beer Trader

Is Jaegermeister aged in barrels? If so that could be an interesting beer....

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Jägermeister’s ingredients include 56 herbs, fruits, roots and spices including citrus peel, licorice, anise, poppy seeds, saffron, ginger, juniper berries and ginseng.[6] These ingredients are ground, then steeped in water and alcohol for 2–3 days. Afterwards, this mixture is filtered and stored in oak barrels for about a year. When a year has passed, the liqueur is filtered again, then mixed with sugar, caramel, alcohol and water. It is filtered one last time and then bottled

Beer Trader

Jägermeister’s ingredients include 56 herbs, fruits, roots and spices including citrus peel, licorice, anise, poppy seeds, saffron, ginger, juniper berries and ginseng.[6] These ingredients are ground, then steeped in water and alcohol for 2–3 days. Afterwards, this mixture is filtered and stored in oak barrels for about a year. When a year has passed, the liqueur is filtered again, then mixed with sugar, caramel, alcohol and water. It is filtered one last time and then bottled

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Seriously, my frat boy Jaeger days are behind me (more or less) but I'd like to try a Jaeger barrel aged beer

Jägermeister’s ingredients include 56 herbs, fruits, roots and spices including citrus peel, licorice, anise, poppy seeds, saffron, ginger, juniper berries and ginseng.[6] These ingredients are ground, then steeped in water and alcohol for 2–3 days. Afterwards, this mixture is filtered and stored in oak barrels for about a year. When a year has passed, the liqueur is filtered again, then mixed with sugar, caramel, alcohol and water. It is filtered one last time and then bottled

I think they're more available because they can only be used for the whiskey once. Once the whiskey is gone, they get rid of the barrel. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

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Whisk(e)y is a broad term for the style of liquor and the standards for barrel usage does vary by the type of whisk(e)y. In the US, to be labeled Bourbon or Rye, the liquor must be aged in new, charred oak barrels. There is no second use for these distilleries. Many distilleries in Scotland have contracts with American distilleries for their barrels and use them to age their Scotch.

IndustryBeer Trader

Seriously, my frat boy Jaeger days are behind me (more or less) but I'd like to try a Jaeger barrel aged beer

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You could try some Braunschweiger Mumme (Jaegermeister -- and my wife -- is from the Braunschweig area). Described as "a wholesome drink, brewed from wheat malt, boiled down to a third of its original quantity, to which were added oatmeal and ground beans, and after working quite a number of herbs and other vegetable products, including the tops of fir and birch, a handful of burnet, betony, marjoram, avens, pennyroyal, wild-thyme, and elder-flowers, and a few ounces of cardamum seeds and barberries . . . Fill up at last and when 'tis stopt, put into the hogshead two new-laid eggs unbroken or crackt, stop it up close, and drink it at two years end." Don't know what types of barrels are used (I'd guess it's oak), and I've never tried the stuff myself. My in-laws all say it's pretty dreadful....

IndustryBeer Trader

As mentioned it's availability, which in turn points to the true reason: price. After talking to several breweries on this subject it seems bourbon barrels can be obtained for around $50-100/ea. Rum and the like are closer to $400+ with higher shipping in most cases and miniscule availability. I want to say that when I asked specifically about Calvados barrels the brewer told me he had looked into it but they cost $900-1000. And again, not many are out there to begin with...

Availability, price, character, source of Oak... Wine makers tend to use their barrels for at least three turns...the barrels are retired once deemed 'Oak neutral'. Of course depending on how the barrels have been handled there is always a potential of 'critters' being resident.

French, Hungarian and American Oak wine barrels vary greatly in price (and quality of Oak). Wine barrels are plentiful and can be found easily on www.winebusiness.com/classifeds. Prices range from $20-600+ The French stuff sells quite high.

Cognac, Rum, Brandy, and more. Rum and Brandy are usually aged in used bourbon barrels. Used until oak neutral.
Rum comes back from Caribean and not cheap either. Cognac is compelling but expense is high and results vary.

Tequila barrel aged beer....no!

Bourbon/Whiskey/Rye Barrels are one and done 99% of the time. Once emptied they have to be moved off the property quickly and there are brokers that do nothing but process orders for those barrels.